Published: May 14, 2008 06:03 pm            

Lady Eagles win 10-inning thriller over Fishers

It was Senior Night at the Monday, May 13, Zionsville softball game, as the Lady Eagles honored the team’s lone fourth-year player Jayne Beasley. However, it took the entire lineup to beat Fishers 3-2 in a 10-inning marathon.

Beasley was marvelous at second base all game, and her 10th-inning drive to right field scored the game-winning run.

“(Beasley) struggled at the beginning of the season because she’s been hurt, but she sucked it up. She moved back into the infield for us and has done just a spectacular job,” Zionsville Head Coach Amy Beers said. “She works her butt off, and everything’s a hustle play. She’s earned all the success that she’s had this year.”

Zionsville also got two great pitching performances from junior Sarah Seward and sophomore Jenna Swain. Seward tossed the first seven innings, finishing with four strikeouts. She gave up two earned runs on eight total hits.

Swain entered in relief in the eighth, giving up no runs on no hits with three strikeouts.

“Both of them pitched a great game,” Beers said of Swain and Seward.

In the low-scoring game, the Lady Eagles struck early in the second inning. Junior Shelby Day led off the frame with a single to left, and junior Sarah Thacker followed with a single of her own. The Tigers committed an error, allowing Day to score a run for the 1-0 advantage. Day finished the game 2-for-5 at the plate.

Zionsville hit well against a crafty Fishers pitcher in Stacie Rawnsley, but scattered its eight total hits, resulting in little scoring production. The Eagles left a runner on base in the second, and stranded two runners in both the third and fourth inning.

“Fishers is a great, great team,” Beers said. “They came out and played great defense, their pitching was good, their hitting was good.”

As the Lady Tigers threatened to score in the fourth inning, Beasley snagged a fly ball and fired it to Lindsay Westrick to double off the runner at second base.

That momentum spilled over into the top of the fifth. Junior Bailee Newton led off the inning with a 3-2 count, and drilled the ball over the left field fence to extend Zionsville’s lead to 2-0. Newton went 2-for-5 on the evening with one RBI.

With two out in the fifth, Day singled to right, but Zionsville was unable to keep the inning alive.

Fishers responded in the sixth inning, as Lauren Lalioff got things going with a single down the left field line. Two batters later, Allie Foley crushed a two-run homer to tie the game at 2-2.

From there, it looked like neither squad was willing to budge an inch.

After a Fishers single in the seventh, Beasley made another heads-up move for a double play. She caught a short fly and raced to first to tag the runner before she could reach the bag.

In the eighth, it was Zionsville’s turn to threaten, as Thacker and Seward each reached on Tiger fielding errors with two outs on the board. Thacker finished the game 3-for-5, while Seward went 1-for-5 on the game.

Rawnsley forced a Zionsville groundout to end the eighth unscathed, and the teams trudged forth.

In the bottom of the tenth, the Lady Eagles finally broke the dramatic deadlock. Thacker hit a one-out single deep to left-center field to get it going. However, Seward stung a line drive that hit Thacker on the arm, giving Fishers the automatic put-out against the baserunner.

It was no matter, as Beasley stepped into the batter’s box with two outs. She slapped a pitch to right field, and the Fishers outfielder misplayed the ball. Seward hustled all the way from first base to end the game with a 3-2 victory.

The Lady Eagles will take on North Central at 5 p.m. tonight at home. After that, sectionals begins.

Although Zionsville received break with a first-round bye in the Noblesville sectional, the Eagles will take on No. 3 Hamilton Southeastern to begin the postseason.

“We go from hard to harder,” Beers said. “Any team you draw in this sectional is going to be a tough first game. If the game played tonight is how we play at sectionals, I think it’s going to be a great sectional to watch, and I think it’s going to be wide open.”

        

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